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Posts Tagged ‘startups’

Several months ago, I was talking to several partners of an Asian incubator. They were focusing on “new technology,” various apps, other IoT-related areas, “not old ones, like semiconductors.” Ugh!

I felt like I was part of the US steel industry and living in the rust belt. 😉

So it was quite a pleasant surprise to get the invitation to Silicon Sunrise, a coming out event put on by a new, months-old organization, Silicon Catalyst. And I was curious, as I bet the other invitees and attendees were. It looked like Silicon Catalyst was a new investment organization that possibly focused on silicon.

SKTA Innopartners director Angel Orrantia spoke with the San Jose Mercury’s Peter Delevett on why Silicon Valley’s VC community has to start investing again in hardware.

Sure, as Orrantia infers, hardware is tougher (and will probably take longer) to get an exit out of. But hardware is how electronics ultimately works with its human users. So funding the hardware ecosystem in, say semiconductors, is absolutely crucial to Silicon Valley’s continued role as the mecca for high tech innovation.

That’s why Orrantia says it’s time to put the silicon back in Silicon Valley.

For those in fabless semiconductor or IP startup mode (or even thinking about how to start up and get funding), take a look at Paul McLellan’s report on a couple of panel sessions at the annual GSA Entrepreneurship Conference, held last Thursday, July 18 at the Computer History Museum.

Of note is that the first session’s panelists brought a variety of funding models to the table – from a traditional VC to Intel Capital to a brand new incubator on the scene – SKTA Innopartners. In fact, any of you fabless guys really should talk to Angel Orrantia at SKTA. They are focused on fabless semiconductors and enterprise software.

Below is an excerpt from Paul’s write-up:

GSA Entrepreneurship: Getting Money In and Out

Paul McLellan

by

Paul McLellan

Published on 07-18-2013 11:32 PM

This afternoon and evening I was at GSA’s entrepreneurship conference at the Computer History Museum. The first two panel sessions were essentially on getting money into companies to get them started (or growing them), and getting money out when you have built the business.

KNTV, the Bay Area NBC affiliate, covered a story this past Friday on how Silicon Valley is the nation’s mecca for startups. KNTV reporter Scott Budman contends that Silicon Valley is stretching its borders north to Oakland. Really?

Last week, I had a running e-conversation with several folks – from academia, the angel community, bloggers, reporters analysts – about what new EDA and IP startups were out there. “New” being less than a year old.

One person more or less said, “aren’t you working with a new prototyping startup? That’s about the last one I’ve heard of.” Another person, the academician, said that there were none, that the startup groundswell was in cleantech and software apps. No one could think of a single “new” startup in our space.

Why? Not why they can’t think of any new startups, but why none are out there or are so hidden that this group knows of none?

Lots of reasons come to mind. Yeah, the big guys offer all-you-can-eat licenses and crowd out the opportunity for startup point tools; the financial community doesn’t see a decent ROI and don’t fund EDA and IP (although it looks like EDA can once again utter “IPO” without derisive eyeballs rolling); EDA is mature and there’s only incremental improvements to be made, thus no great leaps any longer.

So are we wrong? Are there new startups out there? What technology areas?